Sorry, but what does it mean to be a REFERENCE card? No warranty? Reviewer copy? Thanks.

amd reference design, i.e. what a certain part is/looks like when made by amd/ati unless partners decide to make their own, sometimes cheaping out on components. basically take this over many other, and i see its pretty well priced as well.

Sorry, but what does it mean to be a REFERENCE card? No warranty? Reviewer copy? Thanks.

A reference Card, as Dangtx says, is built by AMD (or to their exact specifications) rather than being built by XFX, MSI, Gigabyte etc. The Reference cards are generally made from better quality componants. Oftentimes (not always), a reference heatsink/fan is louder than a V2 cooler. XFX basically buys the card from AMD and just loads their own BIOS and puts their sticker on it.

In the case of the 5870, the Reference card has adjustable voltage. This means that at idle it will use less power, and you can get a higher overclock by adding more voltage. A reference 5870 can be recognized by "AMD" being on the PCB right near the PCIE tab, and also by the Fan being located near the end of the card, rather than the middle like the V2 cards.Also, the reference cards have the power connectors coming out the side of the card rather than the end.